PLEVALEX - A new platform for Oral Testing in Spanish

Abstract

Computer assisted language testing has become a common educational feature. The fact that large servers allow teachers to investigate and implement new ways of teaching has been revolutionary in the past five years. Now that TOEFL and IELTS are currently operating their new tests online, it is necessary to obtain similar tools for many different languages at reduced costs. To this end a group of 15 researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), investigating in the field of Languages for Specific Purposes, has been working for the past two years on designing a new tool for written and, more importantly, oral testing that can cater for a number of current educational needs in Spain: diagnostic tests for Erasmus students, internal university exams, official university entry exams, and preparation for the Cambridge, Trinity, and TOEFL exams. This new platform has been called PLEVALEX (Plataforma de evaluación valenciana de lenguas extranjeras). This article gives a brief description of the platform, its sections and uses. Although PLEVALEX was originally designed to test Spanish and Catalan, it is also transferable to other languages.